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We are targeting MIT undergraduate students, all of whom eat. A major division exists in our user population between students who are on a meal plan and those who are not. Each of these two groups have their own subgroups. For those on a meal plan, there are students who are on the MIT House Dining plan (where a certain number of meals are provided every day in certain dorms), and there are those who are on the meal plan of some living group (like a fraternity, sorority, or independent living group). Among the students who are not on a meal plan, there are those students who cook regularly and those who eat out regularly.
Users in General
General Statistics:
- Age: 17 - 23
- Gender: roughly 45% Female, 55% Male
- Literate, and technologically adept
- Good typing skills
- Experienced with using a web browser
- Generally solitary
- Some not willing to meet and/or form dining groups with strangers
- May pset in a study group and sometimes eat with them
- Eating habits vary per living group
- Very frequently multi-task.
Users on a Meal Plan
General Notes:
- Eating Habits
- May share at least some meals with large numbers of people
- Might have some limited choice in what they eat
FSILG Notes:
- Eating Habits
- Shares meals with large groups of friends
- Eats at the same location for every meal-plan prepared meal
- Usually has some say in what food is prepared
- Usually only 1 menu per meal though
- May not be able to find out the menu before a meal
- Usually has access to communal food in order to cook with on occasion
- Usually has access to nice cooking environment (commercial grade kitchen, lots of pots/pans, etc.)
- Persona:
- Name: Andrew
- Age: 20 (Sophomore)
- Course 9
- Gets dinner 6 nights a week and lunch 6 days a week (if he goes back to his house)
- Has to cook on one night of the week as part of a cooking team
- Sometimes cooks on the weekends
- Travel time is about 20 mins from campus
- Likes watching movies
- Uses Facebook a lot
- Checks email a few times a day
- Knows how to use a computer, but doesn’t know (or care) anything about how it works
- Lives at the house and has his own fridge in his room
- his personal fridge is usually relatively empty
MIT Dining Plan Notes:
- Eating Habits
- Eats in a large dining hall with other students
- May eat in a small group in this larger crowd
- Has very little say in what food is served
- However, usually can choose from a variety of options among the food served (i.e. several menus available)
- Can find the menu in advance on the MIT Dining website
- Exceptions to the above exist: some students on the required MIT Dining Plan don’t eat at the dining halls all the time, choosing instead to cook for themselves
- Persona:
- Name: Betty
- Age: 20 (Junior)
- Course 7
- Lives in McCormick
- Doesn’t mind the new mandatory meal plan
- Really doesn’t like cooking
- Generally stays in her own dorm for meals and eats with other people on her floor
- Occasionally goes to another dorm if a lot of her friends are going
- Has a personal fridge which is usually stuffed with leftovers
- Athletic and really active in IM sports
- Doesn’t do varsity sports because she prefers just playing for fun with friends
- Relatively outgoing
- Very computer savvy
- Knows enough programming to hack small odds and ends on the side
- Checks Facebook and Twitter with her phone a few times a day
- Checks e-mail every 8 mins or so
Users Not on a Meal Plan
General notes:
- More likely to be concerned with finances
- If not in FSILG, not likely to have very elaborate or commercial grade public kitchen equipment
- Those in dorms all have access to a kitchen on their dorm floor
- Likely to have communal refrigerator
Notes for frequent cooks:
- Can more carefully monitor what they eat (and how much they spend on it)
- Seem to generally be willing to splurge every once in a while to get higher quality ingredients
- Often motivated to cook because it’s much cheaper than going out or buying in to the MIT meal plan
- Eats either alone or with small groups of friends/neighbors
- Goes to cooking websites for recipes, etc.
- (usually have just one that they really like)
- Persona:
- Name: Christina
- Age: 18 (Freshman)
- Wants to be course 6.3
- Cooks for herself because she’s pescetarian (vegetarian + fish)
- Really enjoys cooking with/for groups of people
- Tries to organize meals usually about once a week
- Has easy access to a basic kitchen on her floor
- Doesn’t have her own fridge because there’s plenty of space in the communal fridge/freezer
- Keeps a drawer well stocked with spices and seasonings
- Goes grocery shopping twice a month
- Really likes card games, and plays with people on her floor regularly for study breaks
- Knows how to use a computer efficiently (including web browser), but doesn’t know anything about programming yet
- Checks email once a day
Notes for those who mostly eat out:
- Have a huge say in what they eat, but less of a say in what ingredients go into what they eat.
- Don’t always know nutritional information about food consumed
- Might not care
- Spend more on food than people who cook all the time
- It’s usually more expensive to eat out
- Goes out once in a while with small groups of friends
- Orders food through websites like CampusFood.com, etc.
- Persona:
- Name: Dave
- Age: 21 (Senior)
- Course 8
- Goes out to eat at Pour House on Saturdays with a group of other course 8 seniors
- Orders food every 2 or 3 days, and saves the leftovers for the days in between
- Generally orders large quantities of food, like a large pizza or a large dish of pasta or chinese food
- Has a personal fridge to store the food in
- Always looking for a good deal on food, and uses online coupons
- Also uses sites like BuyWithMe or Groupon for discounts
- Really into console gaming
- Plays a lot of Halo with a group of friends in his dorm
- Uses computer a lot; checks e-mail constantly
- Can type quickly
- Checks facebook maybe once a month. Doesn’t know what Twitter is. Never goes on Youtube
Task analysis
I. Manage presence on website
Subtasks: (see below)* Create an account
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- Enter information pertaining to the food eaten, such as:** Type of meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, other)** Date** What food items were eaten*** User can optionally choose this from the list of food in possession
- Optionally for each food item:** Amount of item eaten** Food group that item belongs to*** Calories
- Cost
- Optionally for each food item:** Amount of item eaten** Food group that item belongs to*** Calories
- Submit information
- As an alternative to the above, if a user is a member of a Group (see section IV below), user can simply import a Group food entry to own food log** User can further edit this entry once it is imported (e.g. to delete items he or she did not actually eat, or to add items)
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- Specify the type of analytics desired. Can sort by trends in:** Proportions of different food groups** Food costs** Calorie consumption
Possible errors:* User specified impossible date range (going backwards in time)
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- Enter information pertaining to the food eaten, such as:** Type of meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, other)** Date** What food items were eaten*** User can optionally choose this from the list of food in possession
- Optionally for each food item:** Amount of item eaten** Food group that item belongs to*** Calories
- Cost
- Optionally for each food item:** Amount of item eaten** Food group that item belongs to*** Calories
- Submit information
Possible errors:* Admin enters a wrong food item
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